England

Hello from England! We flew from Bordeaux, France, and after landing at Gatwick, arrived at our hotel in London on February 3rd. We stayed in the Baywaters area, near Notting Hill. It was well located, near two tube lines. We had many restaurants nearby to choose from also! We spent time at Waterstones buying books (in English - finally a wonderful selection to choose from!), at Harrods looking at everything including the tribute to Diana and Dodi and the Egyptian escalator, walking through the Notting Hill street market and visiting other sites from the movie of the same name, seeing Trafalgar square, visiting Windsor Castle, visiting Greenwich and its Maritime Museum and Prime Meridian, and seeing the Lion King live! We also had a great dinner with our friends Jim and Amelia whom we met in Salema, Portugal. It was a busy, busy time!

After four days, we picked up our rental car at Heathrow airport and headed out on the M5 and A303 to Yeovil and the nearby village of West Cocker where we spent the night. The next day we drove scenic routes and made our way to Cornwall and the town of Truro. Being fans of the Rosamunde Pilcher novels and the "Poldark" TV series, we were very excited to finally see the settings of these stories. We stayed 3 nights and spent the two days between them driving in the countryside to places such as King Harry ferry and St. Mawes, Sennon Cove, and Land's End.

Yesterday we drove to Wells, a small town near Bath. On the way, we stopped in Exeter and met a couple with whom Kris stayed 20 years ago when she spent time in England finishing her teaching degree. They were very kind and planned an easy spot to find for lunch and then drove us around for a city tour. Today we visited Stonehenge and the similar, even older stone formations found in Avebury. They even predate the pyramids we saw in Egypt! It was bitterly cold, 4 or 5 degrees C, with a brisk wind but we did the audio tour at Stonehenge and persevered at Avebury. It was good to get back to our cozy room in Wells!

Speaking of driving, Jon is doing a great job! So far we haven't damaged the car or killed anyone or anything that we know of! It IS very nerve wracking however and the navigator (me) will be very glad to park the car and not drive anywhere for a while. There are so many roundabouts here and going on them and doing turns are the worst part. The more we drive, the more experience we get, which in turns makes us safer.

Tomorrow we drive into southern Wales on the way to the Cotswolds, where we will be for three nights. It is supposed to be beautiful there, with quaint thatched roofs and sheep in the fields - what a great setting for Valentine's Day!

Photos: Street sign in London for Notting Hill, in front of Windsor Castle, Jon at the clock in Greenwich, my tea in St. Mawes - a scone and clotted cream, and Stonehenge.